Study of the geomagnetic field over southern Africa applying harmonic splines technique on CHAMP satellite data

The monitoring of the Earth's magnetic field time variation requires a continuous recording of geomagnetic data with a good spatial coverage of the area of study. In the southern Africa, ground recording stations are limited and the use of satellite data is needed for the studies where high spatial and temporal resolution data is required. The study of the fast time variation of geomagnetic field in the southern Africa region was conducted applying the harmonic splines technique on CHAMP satellite data that has been recorded between 2001 and 2005. The derived core field model, the Southern Africa Core Field Model (SACFM-1), was evaluated using the ground-based data and the International Geomagnetic Reference Field model (IGRF-11). The results of this study suggest that the southern Africa regional model can be improved combining the satellite data and ground data.